Through the years internal combustion motor driven vehicles, have despite considerable improvements in their design and construction, tended to exibit a nagging defect in their tendency to leak some of the various lubricants and fluids. Perhaps the most common problem is the leaking of engine lubrication oil from the underside of the engine. Another common leakage problem arises from leakage of automatic transmission lubricating fluids from the underside of the transmission. In most cases such leakage requires rather expensive remedial steps to alleviate. Further, the minor leakage of lubricating fluids is in most cases void of any harmful effect upon the operation of the vehicle. As a result, the dilema confronting the vehicle owner is that on the one hand the leakage of such lubricating fluids has little or no serious effect on the operation of the vehicle and may therefore, with respect to the vehicle's operation, be tolerated by the owner. This is particularly true in view of the substantial costs typically associated with repair. On the other hand however, the effect of the discharged or leaking fluids upon the surroundings of the vehicle is another matter. The fluid drippings accumulate in pools or stains upon the paved surfaces of streets, driveways and garage floors. At its best it presents an unsightly appearance leaving a residue of stains. Beyond this annoyance however, the accumulation of oil deposits on garage floors or other pavement surfaces can present a definite safety hazard in their potential to cause persons to slip or fall, and in some situations cause a fire hazard. All of this combined causes drive vehicle owners to seak a simpler lower cost solution to fluid leakage problems.
As a result, there has arisen a need in the art for the provision of a device which intercepts and collects leaking fluids in order to avoid the production of unsightly oil stains and the creation of the hazards referred to above. This needs has caused practicioners in the art to provide numerous devices directed at solving this problem.
One such device is set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 2,783,848 in which a generally planar member having a concave construction is suspended beneath the leaking area of a motor vehicle by a plurality of springs. The suspension of the oil collecting device is provided by tension in the springs which are attached to the periphery of the oil collecting device at selected portions of the vehicle understructure.
Another such device is set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 3,169,605 in which an oil collection device is shown which provides an accumulation of oil drops when the vehicle is at a stop or low speed and a discharge of the accumulated oil when the vehicle reaches a speed sufficient to provide that air passing through the device carries oil from the device discharging it on the road surface.
Another such device is set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 3,809,175 in which a generally concave pan-like structure is provided with a plurality of outwardly extending flanges each having apertures therein. A plurality of bolts or other fasteners are passed through the flanges and the apertures therein to secure the device to the underside of a vehicle.
Another such device is set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 2,868,329 in which a trough-like structure having a generally concave reservoir and an air passage therein is provided with a mounting flange which cooperates with the oil drain plug of the vehicle to secure the accumulator beneath the vehicle oil drain aperture. When secured to the vehicle, the device is fixed beneath the oil plug drainage aperture and is similar in object and function to the above described device in U.S. Pat. No. 3,169,605 in that the device functions to accumulate oil drippings during vehicle low speed or standstill and to discharge them during higher speed operation.
Another such device is set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 3,329,231 in which a concave pan or trough is provided with a pair of variable length stiffly deformable arms each of which has a plurality of mounting apertures at the ends thereof. The device is secured to the underside of the vehicle engine or transmission by deforming the arms into a configuration whereby the device may be suspended beneath the leak producing area by securing the bent arms to some of the vehicle bolts such as the engine oil pan bolts.
Still another device is set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 3,333,652 in which an extensive apron is provided which in essence covers the entire underside of the vehicle in the region of the engine and transmission. A flexible elastic cord is secured to the periphery of the oil collection device and a plurality of hooks engage the cord and convenient portions of the vehicle understructure to suspend the device beneath the vehicle engine or transmission.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,841,245 sets forth an oil collection device similar in structure to that set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 2,868,329 described above with the primary difference being the use of a snap-in attachment to the vehicle oil discharge orifice The entire device is sealingly attached to the underside of the engine oil pan by the cooperation of the oil pan aperture and a snap-in securing device.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,899,109 sets forth an oil catcher and discharger for a vehicle in which a concave pan-like member defines a flange or lip about its upper periphery and an internal mechanism which is operative to accumulate oil in the absence of vehicle motion and to discharge it when vehicle motion reaches a predetermined speed. The device shown is secured to the underside of the vehicle oil pan by a plurality of elongated magnets secured within the peripheral flange.
As a final example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,269,488 shows an oil sludge collector which is secured to the vehicle oil pan and which provides a low point accumulation reservoir beneath the vehicle oil pan for the purpose of collecting impurities and sludge from the oil. While the device shown is not specifically directed to the problems of oil drop collection in the same sense as the above-described devices, it does provide for the accumulation of the oil sludge and its periodic removal for cleaning.
While the foregoing devices each provide some measure of oil drop collection action, they all suffer from a serious deficiency in that they are generally difficult to secure to the underside of the vehicle at a position in which the leaking fluid will be intercepted. The irregularities of typical vehicle underside components shapes render many of the foregoing devices difficult or even impossible to mount at the location needed. In addition, the foregoing devices once installed are for the most part are difficult to remove and clean. Their remains, therefore, a need in the art for an effective and efficient device for intercepting and collecting undesired vehicle oil droppings which is easily attached to the appropriate point of the vehicle underside and removeable for cleaning and which can accomodate the often varied contours to which attachment is required.